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I think that bringing Noburi is a poor idea because it leaves Yuno, Keiko, Akane, and Haru as the Goketsu ninja. I think that making sure that Yuno has as much of a support system as possible if we're going to leave her alone with both Mari and Keiko is smart. I also think that leaving as many socially adept folks on the homefront as is possible is wise, given that the Keiko-Mari pressure cooker is back on the fire.

Kagome-Hazo-Haru would be a credible team, as would Kagome-Hazo-Noburi-Yuno. While I like the first option more - I am not comfortable leaving Mari and Keiko alone with only Akane there to act sane - if we keep Noburi and Yuno together, and away from other folks, then at least they have some time to talk and maybe process some stuff.
Noburi might want to bring his wife to Love Island right? Or maybe he wants a break from her idk
Noburi does not get a break from supporting his wife during a period of her life where she is processing something which I suspect handily makes it into her top five most traumatic moments.

Her family is pretty much gone. Sure, they were kinda shitty when they were there, but Noburi gets to see his sisters/cousins/whatever, Keiko sees a lot of Ami, and Hazo could swing hanging out with Hana if he really wanted to. Yuno now has exactly one significant tie to any other person in the world which goes beyond friendship; she's married to Noburi. If Noburi feels like he can't be there to support her, then it's time for another Noburi vs. Noburi showdown.
 
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I think that bringing Noburi is a poor idea because it leaves Yuno, Keiko, Akane, and Haru as the Goketsu ninja. I think that making sure that Yuno has as much of a support system as possible if we're going to leave her alone with both Mari and Keiko is smart. I also think that leaving as many socially adept folks on the homefront as is possible is wise, given that the Keiko-Mari pressure cooker is back on the fire.
Keiko will probably just stay with the Nara for a while, imo. She's not managing our day-to-day stuff anyways.
Noburi does not get a break from supporting his wife during a period of her life where she is processing something which I suspect handily makes it into her top five most traumatic moments.
Good point, I definitely support bringing Yuno in that case
 
Although Isan was a success, I think we'll probably have a better chance at convincing Asuma to let us go back to the place 2 Akatsuki members encountered us at (And which he almost executed us over) if we help Leaf more before we go.

  • Give the hospital and clinic some help
  • See what can be done about food problems hitting Leaf.
  • Tell Tsunade about the medical jutsu arrangement with Isan (Takahashi)
  • Summoning crusade contract
Things like that. I'd support the rift thing after. I only bring it up because Ami said we have a habit of over reaching before we even build foundations to properly over reach with.
 
Although Isan was a success, I think we'll probably have a better chance at convincing Asuma to let us go back to the place 2 Akatsuki members encountered us at (And which he almost executed us over) if we help Leaf more before we go.

  • Give the hospital and clinic some help
  • See what can be done about food problems hitting Leaf.
  • Tell Tsunade about the medical jutsu arrangement with Isan (Takahashi)
  • Summoning crusade contract
Things like that. I'd support the rift thing after. I only bring it up because Ami said we have a habit of over reaching before we even build foundations to properly over reach with.
Ooh, or we could take someone along who isn't beholden to us, so Asuma can feel safe that we can't get up to shenanigans without the accompanying ninja knowing.
 
Ooh, or we could take someone along who isn't beholden to us, so Asuma can feel safe that we can't get up to shenanigans without the accompanying ninja knowing.
Mm. @MadScientist, on that note, an idea: invite Neji. Or maybe Sasuke.

Itachi had went on a spiel about how his bloodline allowed him to see details about that rift:
"YES! The Sharingan slows time and allows me to see truth! I could see the portal closing even as we stood there. We. Are. Not. Getting. Anyone. Back! Not unless they're picnicking immediately next to the damn thing!"
If we're gathering data, their abilities might be helpful. I'm inclined towards Neji: the Byakugan will likely be more useful now that the rift is closed.

Or, if Neji won't cooperate, just hire a random Hyuuga.

Edit:
But what about Snake, the other random ANBU whom we'd seen once and are now obsessing over? We'd last seen her before the Collapse, but I think we'd asked to confirm her survival. @faflec, is she alive?
 
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But what about Snake, the other random ANBU whom we'd seen once and are now obsessing over? We'd last seen her before the Collapse, but I think we'd asked to confirm her survival. @faflec, is she alive?
Asuma snorted and shook his head in amusement. "Fine. This plan means you're unlikely to have enemy contact, so I'll allow it. You, Snake, Cat, Hawk, and a jōnin who possesses Multiple Earth Wall. We haven't built up a sufficient stock of skywalkers that I'm comfortable authorizing you to travel in the air the whole way, so you'll need to go out and come back on the ground, taking to the air only when you're near the target. Kagome, you will stay in the middle of the group at all times. If you encounter any resistance you are to activate your skywalkers, disengage, and return immediately to Leaf. The other members of the team shall be considered expendable. Understood?"
I mean, something could have happened since then...

I don't think a lot of people are going to be comfortable with going to a place Akatsuki was known to frequent (to be clear: this is the rift-to-the-afterlife location, yes?).
 
Although Isan was a success, I think we'll probably have a better chance at convincing Asuma to let us go back to the place 2 Akatsuki members encountered us at (And which he almost executed us over) if we help Leaf more before we go.
I don't think this is really a concern. If we're colluding with the Akatsuki, there is no reason for us to go to the same place we'd previously met them at to do that. We could meet with them in a random Fire village, or even on the Seventh Path where Asuma can't see at all. On the other hand, this request makes perfect sense if we really are going because there was a rift we want to investigate as part of solving the Dragons problem. And he could be certain Akatsuki aren't there anymore, and that they don't have any secret facility there, because it'd be staggeringly stupid for them to stay in the location known to Leaf. There's nothing stopping Leaf from just doing something like this.

It seems like something that'd seem suspicious in the first approximation, but I don't really see a plausible traitor!Hazou who would do that.
I don't think a lot of people are going to be comfortable with going to a place Akatsuki was known to frequent (to be clear: this is the rift-to-the-afterlife location, yes?).
See above: I really doubt they're hanging out there now that Leaf knows they'd hung out there.
 
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I don't know what to do with this, so it's time for another poll.

[] [poll2] Kagome and Noburi are bodyguards enough
[] [poll2] bring someone else

There's no excuse for us not to hire the strongest team we can afford for our budget. Stop trying to pick family members unless said family members are the best we have.

We are an international target, especially since we are the skywalker clan and could come up with another skywalker. We also are going to the same place, which means retracing the journey. Who knows what powers have spies in Love Island?

I pray that Hazo and Kagome will take a different route to our location.
 
Updated:

[x] Action Plan: Piercing the Veil
  1. Sanity check with Mari/Keiko.
  2. Isan Team:
    1. Hazou reports to Asuma. What does he want us to do with the banished ninja? Suggestions:
    2. Track Aida Rin and Mochiaki, and arrange for an ANBU capture team. Provide assistance if sensible. Do not take undue risk.
    3. Alternative possibility: use a "disguised as non leaf" operative to turn them into deniable assets for leaf.
  3. Hazou and Kagome:
    1. Find as much information as you can about rifts and dimensionalism. Consult with sealmasters. Read Jiraiya's notes, the Leaf Private Library, and anything else Asuma is willing to let Hazou access.
    2. Purchase copies of any seals that might behave at all differently at the rift (diagnostic seals if they have them, but just in general anything that might behave differently).
    3. Once Mari is back to manage the clan in Hazou's absence, and if Asuma gives the green light:
      1. Hazou and Kagome go on a field trip to the site of the afterlife rift to examine it -- both for furthering their understanding of dimensional sealing in preperation for the Great Seal, and for evaluating the site's suitability for assisting in necromancy.
      2. If Kagome thinks that we would need better tools to get meaningful information from this expedition, and those tools are within the pair's ability to research, then do so. This research could take place at Leaf, if Kagome sees immediate need to do that research, but might also or otherwise take place at the rift site, if he thinks that preliminary examination of the rift site would better enable the creation of tools to examine it in more detail.
      3. Before leaving, use Iron Nerve to create a detailed diagram of the Great Seal to leave with the Leaf Sealmasters.
      4. Bring Noburi and Yuno, both as bodyguards, and in case Noburi's chakra sense is helpful at all in examining the site.
      5. Potentially also bring Sasuke and/or Neji, in case their cheating eyeballs might be helpful in examining the site.
 
[x] Action Plan: Piercing the Veil

I would object to introducing external ninja.

Hazou is a high value target as the Dog Summoner. If we stay there for any length of time (which we likely will if we have the instruments to get anything from the rift), we invite scroll theft. If we spread our intended travel location widely, looking for people to join us, that information spreads into foreign spy networks and the like. Let's keep OPSEC tight. That said... could we bring Mari? I recognize that this erodes her stance as "not a field ninja"... (but consider the possibility of heartfelt Mari+Hazou talks about necromancy/Jiraiya!)

Also, not sure if it's worth the wordcount, but can we have Hazou mechanically optimize his diagram of the Great Seal? Give it lots of tries (i.e. lots of rolls), take extra time for time-ladder bonuses, get advice from other sealmasters, study the Summoning Scroll (carefully) to get tags, etc.
 
What dangers are we expecting to encounter that Hazou+Kagome+others can't handle but that we could handle with a hired jounin? Even setting aside the fact that hiring high-rank ninja is not a trivial feat given how little money we have left, they'd be redundant against chakra beasts and useless against S-Rankers. They'd turn the tide if we have to fight an enemy jounin, but we have no reason to expect an enemy jounin at that location.

We do not have the luxury of throwing vast amounts of money at reducing marginal risks. Unless there is solid reason to believe we will have a hostile encounter specifically with an enemy jounin, there's no reason to hire a jounin to bodyguard us.
 
What dangers are we expecting to encounter that Hazou+Kagome+others can't handle but that we could handle with a hired jounin? Even setting aside the fact that hiring high-rank ninja is not a trivial feat given how little money we have left, they'd be redundant against chakra beasts and useless against S-Rankers. They'd turn the tide if we have to fight an enemy jounin, but we have no reason to expect an enemy jounin at that location.

We do not have the luxury of throwing vast amounts of money at reducing marginal risks. Unless there is solid reason to believe we will have a hostile encounter specifically with an enemy jounin, there's no reason to hire a jounin to bodyguard us.
Is scroll theft not a concern to you? Back when J was pitching the scroll idea to Keiko, he mentioned that summoners tend to be jounin at the top of their game because otherwise it gets snatched fast. Hazou is recognizable and Kagome sucks at Deceit, and after Akatsuki / Porc Scroll happened at Todoroki, I could imagine that other nations stationed spies there just in case other interesting things happen. (I'm assuming Hazou's treason is well enough known to have leaked into other nation's info networks by now)
 
Is scroll theft not a concern to you? Back when J was pitching the scroll idea to Keiko, he mentioned that summoners tend to be jounin at the top of their game because otherwise it gets snatched fast. Hazou is recognizable and Kagome sucks at Deceit, and after Akatsuki / Porc Scroll happened at Todoroki, I could imagine that other nations stationed spies there just in case other interesting things happen. (I'm assuming Hazou's treason is well enough known to have leaked into other nation's info networks by now)
How about another stipulation "Hazou reverse summons at first sign of trouble"?
It's not like he contributes much to the fight anyways. Still, the "put spies at Todoroki" point is a pretty good one....
 
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